A Holiday Romance

“Why did you come here?” he asked. “This resort, specifically.”

She was concentrating on her champagne, taking tiny sip after tiny sip. “Is this a customer survey?”

“Curiosity. You’re different from our usual guest.”

Her head came up. “Meaning I’m not seventy years old and wealthy?”

“And you’re…single. We’re not known as a singles resort, even though I’ve tried to expand our market.” He was striving to sound professional, which had never been a problem before.

“It’s not a spectacular story,” Alice said. “I just needed to get away from home. One day I was surfing the Internet, looking for interesting places I’d never been to, when I landed on a site that specializes in vacation-home exchanges. Long story short, I swapped two weeks with a condo owner. He’s staying at my cottage in Maine.” She toyed with the stem of her glass, her head bent to one side so her neck was exposed.

Kyle’s eyes lingered. “I see. So you’re in one of the condos.” Master of stating the obvious.

No wonder she’d made the seventy-year-old comment. The Prince Montez chain had plunged into the thriving vacation-condo market as an adjunct to their luxury resort hotels. While the condos were technically under Kyle’s command, that wasn’t an area where he needed to spend a lot of his time. Other than the occasional turnover of ownership or HOA—Home Owner’s Association—tussle, their management was a matter of maintaining the status quo.

“I don’t get over to the condos very often,” he said.

That meant he wasn’t likely to come across Alice after tonight. Probably a good thing. One “welcome” drink was fine, but he couldn’t afford to give her the idea that he was interested in her. The PM policy against fraternization between guests and employees was strictly enforced—by him. Although romantic relationships among employees was also frowned on, they happened more frequently than he would have preferred. Take Gavin, for example.

“I’m kept busy here,” he added, not sure why he felt the need to explain himself to Alice, except that she looked almost forlorn. A fringe of overly long bangs had fallen across her forehead, into her eyes.

“Yes.” She studied her fingers, caged around the glass.

Kyle clenched his jaw. He had fired two employees for fraternization. One a guy who’d played cabana boy a little too well, following up on the offers of flirtatious female guests, even after several warnings. The other had been an office worker, though fraternization had been the least of her crimes. She’d also been more than an employee to Kyle. His sister, in fact. Making her flouting of the rules a most uncomfortable situation.

But he’d done what he had to do. And he would do it again, even if that meant letting down sweet Alice Potter with her nursery rhyme name and her large dark eyes that held so much expectation and hope.

His fault, damn it. She’d have had no hopes if he hadn’t already stepped over the line.

“Thank you for sharing my company,” he said, rising to his feet. For making me number fourteen. “I enjoyed it.”

She looked up at him, blinking, then brushed her hair aside. “I did, too,” she said softly.

“Please let…let the staff know if you need anything at all during your stay with us.”

“Yes, thank you.”

“Would you like an escort back to the condo? We have carts available, or—”

“No, thank you. Now that it’s cooled off, I’ll enjoy the walk. The grounds are so beautiful.” She turned her face away, lifting it again to the balmy breeze. His gaze followed hers across the manicured vista, where guests strolled by twos and threes. Farther off, snatches of music played intermittently as the more garrulous groups entered the adjacent nightclub. “I’d like to stay here for a while longer.”

Kyle hesitated, but there seemed nothing left to say. He could not ask her to go dancing. “Good evening, then, Miss Potter.”

Her lips parted. “Good evening, Mr. Jarreau.” She did not meet his eyes.

T HE LONESOME ONESOME , Alice thought with derision as she accepted a second glass of champagne from the attentive waiter, even though one was enough to make her tipsy.

She supposed she qualified as a VIP now that she’d been noticed by the head honcho, but she couldn’t enjoy the moment of glory, such as it was. She’d rather have stayed anonymous than be given a taste of what it felt like to be admired and even flirted with before the attention was taken away again.

But that was the old Alice talking.

The new Alice should have been bolder. Made herself too enticing to resist. Somehow.

Her interlude with Kyle Jarreau was likely the only holiday flirtation she’d get. She would savor it when she was home.

Home alone.

No, focus on Kyle. The way he held himself, for instance—erect and almost regal, evoking formality even with his button-down shirt undone at the cuffs and collar. His posture was so perfect that she’d reminded herself several times to sit up, lift her head high to meet his gaze.

His hair, for another. Short and thick, deep walnut brown and tipped with the slightest touch of honey. His eyes had been almost the same shade. Serious eyes, even when he’d teased her about the list.

She closed her own eyes now, remembering his strong hands, the quick grin, the hint of stubble on his firm jaw, the masculine fuzz on his tanned forearms.

The moment at the door when their fingers had touched.

She’d felt a blazingly intense awareness—of his skin, the heat of him, the solid muscle and discipline and careful control.

Alice pressed her fingertips together hard enough to hurt. She released them and let her hands fall to her lap, curled like limp macaroni as she looked up at the stars and sighed. No sense wishing on them anymore. She’d asked for a handsome stranger and she’d been given one.

Oh, yes. Kyle Jarreau had fulfilled the requirements very well.

Perhaps too well, considering that, despite their apparent connection, he’d seemed determined to remain a stranger.

Prince Montez Oasis Resort, Phoenix, Arizona—the jewel of the Sonoran desert.

July 21

Dear Mom,

I’m not going to actually mail this postcard, but it makes a funny kind of sense that the first one I write should be to you. You’re the one who encouraged me to take this trip, in so many more ways than just $$. So I’m here, and I’m going to do you proud. I’ve already begun—and how!—but I’ll send that postcard to Sue. I’m writing to you, Mom, to say thanks for the inspiration.

Love,

Alice

CHAPTER THREE

A LICE AWOKE EARLY the next morning and got into the shower, emerging revived and ready to take on every activity the resort offered. The list she’d written had proved how much of her life she’d let slip away the past six years on Osprey Island.

She would never, absolutely never, regret being there for her mother as the initial occurrence of breast cancer had returned, then spread. Family was family. But Alice also recognized that the cost to herself had been high. At a time when many others her age were settled with jobs, marriage, kids, she had nothing but a one-half share in a run-down little cottage and a spotty job history of temporary positions. Nursemaid, gardener, part-time baker, fill-in babysitter, substitute teacher.

She had a substitute life.

But no more! Alice brushed her teeth and pulled a comb through her wet hair, wrinkling her nose at the mirror. She’d made promises to herself.

She dropped her damp towel and got into the thick terry robe with the PM crest on the lapel. It was good to feel pampered.

She strolled into the living room, captivated anew by the exotic surroundings. Last night, she’d pulled the louvered wood shutters across the windows and sliding glass doors. Now the early-morning sunshine had reached past the dusty red foothills that bordered the resort complex to stripe the floor with light. She curled her bare toes into the heat. All around her was adobe and slate, brushed steel, ebony wood and Sinatra-era furnishings with low, straight lines. So different from the dumpy, flowery pieces and peeling paint at the cottage back home.